Footballers choose too

Footballers choose too

“Is it going in a bubble?” Cayetano Ros asked soccer player Pablo Aimar in this newspaper, who replied: “Sometimes we interfere without deciding. We go to an airport and we don’t even pass on the passport because a delegate hands it over. They do everything for you. And then you go and say, “How do I reserve a room?”

The majority of footballers at the time lived in hermetic bubbles created by the clubs themselves but, paradoxically, also by fans and the media, who in turn demanded more closeness. For example, for many years the absurd maxim of not mixing football and politics applied. If a player deviated from the usual silence, he was told – this still happens – to go about his business and hit balls. In this sense, the players hardly commented on political issues or human rights. Any social statement was limited to undisputed occasions such as the annual Christmas visit to a children’s hospital or observing a minute’s silence in the middle of the field. Clubs used players once a year to do positive publicity, two or three if possible and little else.

In reality, the players didn’t speak because they didn’t have the power to do so outside of traditional media. If you said at a press conference, get out “if the ball doesn’t want to go in, it won’t go in”, “this is football”, “we have to keep working”, “the games we still have are finals”, “we will do everything leave on pitch” (or insert here the placeholder and blank phrase you like best) risked retaliation from the club, who were quick to issue a statement clarifying that the footballer’s opinion is his and be alone.

But that balance of power changed when social media took hold. Players began to express their illusions, desires or disappointments in their own way. Some even began speaking out on political issues. The clubs stopped having that power over them; the power of absolute control. “I wanted to see if anyone in our industry would speak up about abortion law in Alabama, but I think people are too scared. It’s not just a woman’s problem, it’s a problem for everyone. We are fighting for equality and that is why men should fight and not hide.” This is what FC Barcelona footballer Héctor Bellerín wrote on his Twitter profile three years ago. One footballer commented on abortion and the foundations of the planet remained intact surprise of many stand.

Bellerín himself has criticized the blunt gears of the football industry more than once. “It’s an industry where we have to be really quiet and play around. I think the code that surrounds this sport is that footballers do nothing but kick a ball. So when a footballer comes out of the box, he’s always seen as someone who doesn’t focus enough on football,” he said.

In these days of elections in Brazil, many people have uploaded photos of Socrates raising his fist to their social networks. De Socrates was also the reason why players were no longer treated like privileged sacks filled with indifference. In his letter to the Corinthians, the employees decided from the canteen menu to the distribution of the sponsorship. “We abolished the process that existed in football, where those in charge prevented the players from growing up,” said Socrates himself.

The infantilization of soccer players happens by preventing them from expressing their ideas and contradictions that they have like any human being. They may have grown up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Brazil, a place without brands or flags, and support intolerant politics based on individual success. Because Neymar, like the neighbor from across the street, basically defends the ideology of the self. And it’s good that you can say that publicly. It’s okay to let go of that old adage that you don’t have to know idols lest they fail you.

Perhaps one day we will also know what some players think of their stadiums being named after companies, of teams being sold to oligarchs or of football’s incessant expansion into markets that cast very long shadows.

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